Every Student Succeeds Act 2015

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/12/10/every-student-succeeds-act-vs-no-child-left-behind-whats-changed/77088780/

The bipartisan effort of the Every Student Succeeds Act 2015 was signed into law by President Obama  on December 7, 2015. This law is intended to replace the one-size fits all approach that its predecessor the No Child Let Behind Act established in 2001. Although the laws have a similar rhetoric of accountability and proving student success the Every Student Succeeds Act 2015 creates flexibility and loosens mandates for the states handling of their own education. The act provided the pilot  Flexibility for Equitable Per-Pupil Funding program that gives school leaders the autonomy to use school funding based on their student population's needs and create and oversee innovative programming that will help their students succeed. This funding program is being piloted in 50 school districts and if successful the first three years within these school districts will be expanded in the 2019-2020 school year. You can read more about the funding program at http://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/2015/12/10/the-every-student-succeeds-act-promotes-fairer-school-spending

The featured USA Today  article presents a comparison of the No Child Left Behind Act 2001 and the Every Student Succeeds Act 2015 in the key areas of the problem being addressed, funding, accountability, and Common Core. As an aspiring School Social Worker, this new act is highly important to the future of my career as it focuses heavily on the individual needs of specific communities of students, especially the closing the achievement gap for low-income families. I feel that this creates opportunities and affords social workers the platform to create innovative evidence-based programming to present to school leaders that now have the autonomy to control 40-80 percent of their school budget to help achieve the overarching goal of student success.